Article pubs.acs.org/JPCB
Conformational Investigation in Solution of a Fluorinated Antiinflammatory Drug by NMR Spectroscopy in Weakly Ordering Media Maria Enrica Di Pietro,†,‡ Christie Aroulanda,‡ Denis Merlet,*,‡ Giorgio Celebre,† and Giuseppina De Luca*,† †
Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università della Calabria, via P. Bucci, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy Equipe de RMN en milieu orienté, ICMMO, UMR 8182, Université Paris-Sud, 15 Rue Georges Clemenceau, 91405 Orsay, France
‡
S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: The structural and conformational elucidation of flexible bioactive molecules in solution is currently a crucial goal for the scientific community, but it is rarely achievable by available techniques. The anti-inflammatory drug diflunisal is presented here as a model case for supporting the efficiency of NMR spectroscopy combined with the use of weakly ordering media as a promising methodology for the conformational investigation of small bioactive molecules. Starting from NMR anisotropic data (40 independent dipolar couplings), a quite accurate description of its torsional distribution around the inter-ring C−C bond was found, characterized by a pair of two couples of conformers. According to the relative configuration of the carboxylic group and the fluorine atom in the ortho position to the inter-ring C−C bond, the more stable couple of conformers are defined as “trans” type conformers (F opposite to the carboxylic group) whereas the less stable couple are “cis” type conformers (F and carboxylic group on the same side). In order to study the influence of fluorine nuclei on the structure and conformational distribution, the same analytical strategy has been applied to investigate the phenylsalicylic acid, its nonfluorinated analogue.
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INTRODUCTION The spatial arrangement adopted by bioactive flexible molecules strongly affects the interactions they create with endogenous ligands as well as specific systems for the controlled delivery of active agents, influencing hence their biological activity, pharmacokinetic properties, and metabolic degradation pathways.1−3 The elucidation of three-dimensional structure and conformational equilibrium is then a preliminary step for rationalizing the relationship between conformation and drug activity and can be of valuable help for drug design, screening processes and pharmaceutical formulation development. The possibility of performing such investigation in a liquid environment is even more interesting, since it is the state of matter where molecules generally interact and, if bioactive, play their role. NMR spectroscopy satisfies both requirements. Over the years, J-couplings and nuclear Overhauser effect (nOe) measurements have provided clues about the conformation the drug can adopt in solution.4 However, such standard NMR parameters are short-range in nature; thus these methods have limitations for obtaining connectivity information between atoms which are far apart and are often insufficient for an unequivocal structural and conformational determination, particularly when the measurement averages over two or more conformers.5−7 An alternative and/or complementary strategy is the combination of NMR spectroscopy with the use of ordering liquid crystalline solvents. In such media the anisotropic part of the NMR interactions, normally averaged out to zero because of isotropic molecular tumbling, becomes readily observable. Out of the anisotropic observ© 2014 American Chemical Society
ablesi.e., chemical shift anisotropy, anisotropy of indirect coupling, dipolar coupling, and quadrupolar splittingdipolar couplings have been recognized to contain a unique wealth of structural, orientational, and conformational data for 1/2 spins. Thanks to their dependence on the spin−spin distances and on the orientations of the internuclear vectors with respect to the external magnetic field, these dipolar couplings represent a probe sensitive to the long-range constraints of even spatially remote parts of molecules and can thus give invaluable insights about the conformational distribution of organic compounds.8−10 Very accurate conformational results have been reported in recent decades on small organic molecules dissolved in media such as thermotropic liquid crystals that induce a rather high degree of order.11−16 However, the challenging spectral complexity resulting from such high order induced to the solute limited the technique to rather symmetric molecules with no more than 10 or 12 spins. Aiming at studying more complex molecules of lower symmetry, a smart choice is the use of weakly ordering solvents.17−22 In such media anisotropic interactions are significantly reduced but not entirely averaged out to zero, allowing therefore the magnitude of dipolar couplings to be comparable to or even smaller than that of scalar couplings (this is why they are often referred to as residual dipolar couplings, RDCs). Consequently, the spectral quality of high-resolution NMR spectra is generally retained. Received: May 23, 2014 Revised: July 4, 2014 Published: July 7, 2014 9007
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Figure 1. Topological structure, atomic labeling, and torsional angle φ of (a) diflunisal (DFL) and (b) phenylsalicylic acid (APS). The (a, b, c) axes of the molecular reference frame adopted for the molecules are also shown.
description (DPD)53 of the conformational equilibrium. Despite being widely accepted as a robust method for describing thermotropic samples, it has been rarely used for weakly ordered solutes, so that diflunisal may represent a good test compound. When studying the conformational features of DFL, the effect that the fluorine atoms may have on the torsional distribution is worthy of deeper investigation. Next to the interest in fundamental research, this subject has implications in drug synthesis, too. At present, the replacement of hydrogen atoms by fluorine is a well-established practice adopted by pharmaceutical chemists to obtain fluorinated compounds displaying biological activity similar to their hydrogen natural analogues but showing a greater resistance to metabolic degradation and improved bioavailability.54−57 Indeed, though fluorine atom is still the substituent with the smallest size that can be used as replacement for hydrogen in the C−H bond in drug design, some studies suggest that the C−F bond (F van der Waals (vdW) radius = 1.47 Å) is more nearly isosteric with the C−O bond (O vdW radius = 1.52 Å) than with the C−H bond (H vdW radius = 1.20 Å).58,59 Moreover, because of its electronegativity, moderate size, low polarizability, and bond strength, 19F can have a great influence on inter- and intramolecular forces and it is well-known that the 1H to 19F substitution can alter the physical properties of compounds, such as boiling points, electron density distribution, surface tension in liquids, and surface energy in solids, as well as the chemical properties, such as thermodynamic bond stability, acidity and basicity, lipophilicity, and the ability to participate in hydrogen bonding.60,61 Interestingly, the low polarizability and the slightly larger size of 19F compared with 1H also have consequences for the structure and molecular dynamics of fluorinated compounds. As an example consider that the lowest energy conformer of linear hydrocarbon backbones is a zigzag conformation and possesses some conformational flexibility, whereas perfluoroalkane chains present a helical structure and are essentially rigid rodlike molecules. The explanation lies in the steric repulsion of the electronically “hard” fluorine substituents bound to carbon atoms in the relative 1,3positions.61 Aiming at probing whether or not the 19F nuclei have significant effects on the structure and/or conformational distribution of the DFL, its nonfluorinated analogue, the 4hydroxy[1,1′-biphenyl]-3-carboxylic acid (or phenylsalicylic acid, APS, Figure 1b) was also studied. The aim of the present work is to obtain and compare the minimum energy conformers and the whole curves of torsional potential for the fluorinated and nonfluorinated compounds dissolved in a polypeptidic liquid crystalline solvent. As
Among the several aligning media reported, those based on poly-γ-benzyl-L-glutamate (PBLG)23 gained a wide interest. The solutions composed of the synthetic homopolypeptide PBLG (degree of polymerization higher than around 450) dissolved in helicogenic organic cosolvents (e.g , chloroform, dimethylformamide, or pyridine) create, in a magnetic field B0 (B0 higher than 1.4 T), chiral nematic liquid crystalline phases. A molecule dissolved therein turns out to have a low degree of orientational order: its Saupe order parameters are usually within 10−4 to 10−3. Such ordered media were successfully used in various applications as structural and relative configuration determinations, enantiomeric excesses measurements, or discussion of reaction pathways involving a variety of organic functions and NMR isotopes.24−34 Here we propose to apply the NMR spectroscopy in PBLG-based liquid crystalline solvents to investigate the conformational equilibrium of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), the 2′,4′difluoro-4-hydroxy[1,1′-biphenyl]-3-carboxylic acid, commonly known as diflunisal (DFL, Figure 1a). DFL is a U.S. Food and Drug Administryation (FDA)-approved cyclooxygenase inhibitor, a difluorophenyl derivate of aspirin, presenting similar analgesic and anti-inflammatory therapeutic indications and side effects. Brand-name products as well as generic versions are currently available. The structural and conformational problem in complexes that DFL forms with polymeric matrices or metals as well as target proteins has been investigated in solid state by both computational techniques and X-ray, solid-state fluorescence and solid-state NMR measurements,35−41 but to the best of our knowledge no studies have been reported on the elucidation of the molecular spatial arrangement in solution. NMR spectroscopy in ordered PBLG solutions makes it possible to explore the conformational distribution of DFL directly in a liquid medium. Note that the ability of the polypeptide fibers to readily dissolve in common low-viscosity organic solvents allows one to overcome the problem of sparing water solubility of the studied drug. As generally described, PBLG solutions have a degree of orientational order higher than other weakly orienting media, such as stretched gels.18,19,42−51 This could be a limitation because of the possible introduction of higher-order effects in medium-sized molecules. Here, it will be an advantage, as inter-ring, longrange, dipolar couplings, which are generally small, are needed. Starting from the NMR anisotropic data, the experimental torsional distribution around the dihedral angle φ between the two rings for the DFL molecule will be investigated by using the so-called AP-DPD model and then compared with in vacuo theoretical results. The AP-DPD approach is a combination of the additive potential (AP)52 method and the direct probability 9008
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Figure 2. (a) 1D 1H and (b) 19F broadband excitation NMR spectra of diflunisal in tetrahydrofuran-d8 (THF-d8). (c) 1D 1H and (d) 19F broadband excitation NMR spectra of diflunisal dissolved in PBLG/THF. All NMR spectra were recorded at 9.4 T and at 300 K. In both b and d F8 signal was arbitrarily set at 0 ppm, whereas in a and c residual 1H lines of solvent were used as internal reference.
the total couplings Tobs ij , to determine the targeted dipolar couplings. On both the isotropic and anisotropic samples of DFL, one-dimensional (1D) NMR 1H, 19F, 19F−{1H}, 13C, 13 C−{1H}, and 13C−{19F} spectra were recorded. Spectral assignment of the peaks was performed on the basis of 1H−1H COSY, 1H−13C and 19F−13C HSQC, and 1H−13C and 19F−13C HMBC correlation experiments. Jij and Tij couplings between nuclear pairs 1H−1H, 1H−13C, and 19F−13C were measured from experiments as two-dimensional (2D) 1H−13C J-resolved, 1 H−1H SERF62 and 1D 13C−{1H}. The extraction of JHF and THF couplings, difficult to measure from broadband spectra (Figure 2) and with standard experiments, was achieved thanks to an ad hoc developed NMR experiment named gradient encoded heteronuclear 1H−19F selective refocusing (GETSERF).63 A crucial point has to be noticed: only the absolute values of the indirect and total coupling constants can be measured from spectra, leading to an uncertainty concerning the signs and magnitudes of the values of the Dobs ij to be used in the following conformational analysis. In order to reduce them, however, a strategy commonly used for getting additional analytical information in the case of one-bond 1H−13C dipolar couplings, 1 DCH, was also adopted here.64−66 In this strategy two points
described in the following, the strategy adopted is basically a three-step operating procedure: (i) the set of experimental dipolar couplings Dobs ij is extracted from NMR spectra; (ii) a suitable molecular geometry is obtained from molecular modeling calculations; (iii) the AP-DPD approach is applied in order to give a physical meaning to the experimental data, i.e., to obtain the conformational distribution for the studied molecules.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results from Spectral Analysis. In order to study the conformational distribution of the investigated molecules, in the first step we need the largest set of independent experimental data we can obtain, represented by the observed RDCs, Dobs ij , between the nonequivalent ith and jth magnetically active nuclei of the molecule. Actually, what is directly measured from the anisotropic spectra is the total coupling obs constant defined as |Tobs + 2Dijobs| (for i and j ij | = |Jij nonequivalent nuclei). To be able to properly edit the set of Dobs ij , two series of measurements are hence required: the first one on the isotropic sample, to extract the set of scalar couplings Jobs (assumed basically temperature-independent), ij and the second one on the anisotropic sample, for measuring 9009
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Table 1. Experimental Dipolar Couplings Dobs ij Determined by the NMR Analysis of DFL Dissolved in PBLG/THF, Compared with the Dcalc valuesa ij
have to be recalled: (i) as the 1JCH scalar couplings are known to be positive,67 the two possible 1TCH values derived from the |1TCH| experimental value lead to only two possible 1DCH values; (ii) using 2H NMR at natural abundance level, the quadrupolar splitting ΔνCDk can be measured for the 13C−2H bonds. Following and combining the definitions of 1DCH and its corresponding ΔνCDk for a given C−H bond, it can be demonstrated that the ratio ΔνCDk/1DCH lies approximately in the range of −12 to −10.68,69 Consequently, by a simple comparison of the two experimental 1DCH possible values with the expected one, predicted by the ratio ΔνCDk/1DCH, the correct magnitude and sign were unambiguously determined for 1DCH. Note that the difficulties in the assignment of the quadrupolar doublets were easily overcome by recording the natural abundance deuterium (NAD) 2D autocorrelation QCOSY70,71 spectrum (reported in Figure 1 of the Supporting Information (SI)). Once we got a reliable starting set of dipolar couplings, the determination of the rest of the Dobs ij was carried out, in the different fragments first and in the total molecule afterward, by a trial and error process. This means that, for each single coupling, one assumes one by one a possible value (sign and magnitude) and evaluates the consistence with the structure kept rigid and the whole set of dipolar couplings (see ref 72 and refs therein). Identical analytical procedure was also used on the isotropic and anisotropic samples of APS. From the totality of the experimental couplings, only those whose sign and value were assigned with a high level of confidence were included in the analysis, for a total of 40 independent Dobs ij for DFL and 27 for APS (reported in Tables 1 and 2, respectively). Molecular Modeling Calculations. The second step of the procedure for determining the conformational distribution requires molecular modeling calculations, especially the geometry of the most stable conformers and a good estimate of the potential energy surface (PES). Density functional theory (DFT) approach with the functional B3LYP and the basis set 631++G**, using the Gaussian09 software package,73 was chosen. First, structures and locations of the lowest minimum energy conformers for both the DFL and APS molecules were evaluated in vacuo. In order to exclude significant solvent effects, geometry optimization calculations were also performed taking into account tetrahydrofuran as medium, by means of the polarizable continuum model (PCM)74 implemented in the Gaussian package. No significant difference in terms of structure and relative energies of the most stable conformers emerged between the gas and liquid states. Then, assuming the bond lengths and angles are, to a good approximation, independent of the conformational state, the minimum energy structures found for an isolated molecule were used to perform for both the compounds a rigid PES scan in vacuo for the torsion angle φ between the two rings (defined as the dihedral angle C4−C5−C7−C8) over the 0°−360° range with a 5°-step sampling. This hypothesis of weak correlation between geometrical data and conformational distribution was carefully tested and validated in the case of DFL. Indeed, no significant difference was observed on the structures and proportions of conformers obtained by allowing a geometry optimization at each step of the conformational sampling and by the rigid PES scan described. For DFL four minimum energy conformers were found (Figure 3a): (i) a couple of “trans” conformers with F8 opposite to the carboxylic group (φ = ±43.2°) corresponding to the absolute minima, where the relative potential energy, Erel pot, is
i C3 C3 C4 C4 C6 C6 C9 C9 C11 C12 C8 C8 C9 C9 C10 C10 C12 C12 H3 H3 H4 H4 H4 H4 H6 H6 H6 H9 H11 H4 H4 H6 H6 H9 H9 H11 H11 H12 H12 F8
j C−H Couplings H3 H4 H4 H6 H4 H6 H9 H11 H11 H12 C−F Couplings F8 F10 F8 F10 F8 F10 F8 F10 H−H Couplings H4 H6 H6 H9 H11 H12 H9 H11 H12 H11 H12 H−F Couplings F8 F10 F8 F10 F8 F10 F8 F10 F8 F10 F−F Couplings F10
RMS
b Dobs (Hz) ij
c Dcalc (Hz) ij
30.0 −9.0 −24.9 0.5 0.3 31.8 4.7 0.8 13.8 3.7
± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
30.0 −10.0 −24.8 1.1 0.4 31.7 4.4 1.1 13.8 4.1
8.0 −1.4 −3.1 −3.1 −0.4 −32.7 0.9 −1.5
± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
0.5 0.5 1.1 1.1 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
8.3 −1.3 −3.4 −3.2 −0.4 −32.5 0.9 −1.5
−22.5 2.0 1.4 −1.5 −1.5 −2.5 −2.3 −2.3 −5.1 2.3 −22.2
± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3
−23.0 1.3 1.7 −1.1 −1.0 −2.3 −2.4 −2.2 −5.4 2.2 −22.1
−0.9 −1.1 −6.3 −2.0 −18.9 2.7 0.5 −0.6 1.9 −2.3
± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
0.3 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
−0.7 −0.7 −6.6 −1.6 −18.3 2.1 0.5 −1.0 1.8 −2.6
−1.6 ± 0.3
−1.5
0.31 Hz
a
Good agreement implies a small RMS value. bCalculated from Dobs ij = c obs (Tobs ij − Jij )/2. From the AP-DPD method.
fixed to be 0 kJ/mol, and (ii) a couple of “cis” conformers with F8 on the same side as the carboxylic group (φ = ±135.2°) corresponding to the relative minima (Erel pot ∼ 1.18 kJ/mol). The theoretical Boltzmann distribution can be roughly calculated from the potential energy values as rel Ptheo(φ) ∝ exp( −Epot /RT )
9010
(1)
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Table 2. Experimental Dipolar Couplings Dobs ij Determined by the NMR Analysis of APS Dissolved in PBLG/THF, a Compared with the Dcalc ij Values i
j C−H Couplings H3 H4 H3 H4 H4 H6 H3 H4 H6 H8 H9 H9 H10 H11 H11 H6 H−H Couplings H4 H6 H6 H8 H12 H8 H9 H10 H11 H12 H9 H10 H11 H12 H10 H11 H12 H11 H12 H12
C1 C1 C3 C3 C4 C4 C6 C6 C6 C8 C9 C10 C10 C10 C11 C13 H3 H3 H4 H4 H4 H6 H6 H6 H6 H6 H8 H8 H8 H8 H9 H9 H9 H10 H10 H11 RMS
b Dobs (Hz) ij
c Dcalc (Hz) ij
0.7 −1.0 25.9 −5.8 −21.3 0.6 0.6 0.2 25.6 16.5 16.9 4.1 −29.3 4.1 16.9 −2.3
± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
0.7 −0.5 25.6 −5.7 −21.3 0.7 0.6 0.1 25.9 16.8 16.7 4.0 −30.0 4.0 16.7 −2.3
−10.7 1.4 1.1 −2.1 −2.1 −5.7 −1.6 −1.5 −1.6 −5.7 −10.8 −0.6 0.9 2.2 5.3 2.3 0.9 5.3 −0.6 −10.8
± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
−10.0 1.1 0.8 −2.1 −2.1 −5.7 −1.2 −1.0 −1.2 −5.7 −10.2 −0.9 0.7 2.0 5.3 2.0 0.7 5.3 −0.9 −10.2
Figure 3. Relative potential energy as a function of φ = C4C5C7C8 obtained from B3LYP/6-31++G** calculations in vacuo for (a) DFL and (b) APS, including structures of the corresponding minimum energy conformers.
fluorine atoms in the APS molecule affects almost all internal angles of the corresponding ring as well as angles between the inter-ring C5−C7 bond and each phenyl ring. Conformational Analysis. To extract the desired conformational information from the experimental dipolar couplings, it is necessary to invoke a model taking into account the variation of the orientational order with the conformational state. In this work, within a mean field approach, the so-called AP-DPD model, a combination of the additive potential model52 for the treatment of the ordering interactions with the direct probability description53 of the torsional distribution Piso({ϕ}), was used. In the following, the AP-DPD approach is shortly described (for an extensive rigorous theoretical description see refs 11 and 75). For a flexible molecule, the observed dipolar couplings result from an average over all the ϕ conformations and can be approximated to
0.35 Hz
a
Good agreement implies a small RMS value. bCalculated from Dobs ij = c obs (Tobs ij − Jij )/2. From the AP-DPD method.
Dijobs ≈
2 Z iso ⎛ 3 cos2 ω − 1 ⎞ ⎟ ⎜ 3 Z ⎝ 2 ⎠ ×
where T denotes the absolute temperature and R the universal gas constant. From eq 1 relative percentages of 30% for each trans conformer and 20% of each cis conformer were calculated. In the case of APS, as expected for symmetry reasons, four equally probable minimum energy conformers resulted from the molecular modeling calculations (Figure 3b). Torsion angle values of the conformers are respectively φ = ±39.1° and 180° ± 39.1°. From a purely geometrical viewpoint it is reasonable that the replacement 1H−19F in APS with respect to DFL affects some bond lengths and angles. For a direct comparison we report in the SI (Table 1) the optimized geometries of the minimum energy conformers found for DFL and APS. Besides the trivial difference in the length of the C−F bonds (∼1.36 Å) compared to the corresponding C−H bonds (∼1.086 Å), it is interesting to note that the presence of protons instead of
∫ Piso({ϕ}) Zext({ϕ})
∑ Sαβ({ϕ}) Dij ,αβ ({ϕ}) d{ϕ} αβ
(2)
where ω is the angle between the external magnetic field B0, defining the Z direction in the laboratory frame, and n̂, the director of the mesophase; {ϕ} is the set of internal angles defining the conformation. Z, Ziso, and Zext({ϕ}) are proper normalization factors, and the term Piso({ϕ}) defines the probability distribution of the solute in a conventional isotropic liquid sharing, at the experimental temperature, the same physical properties of the liquid-crystalline solvent, with the exception of its ability to induce a solute ordering. Hence, it must be stressed here that Piso({ϕ}) is definitely the pertinent conformational target. The terms Sαβ({ϕ}) are the solute orientational order parameters, constituting the real symmetric traceless Saupe ordering matrix, and the Dij,αβ({ϕ}) are the 9011
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phases.69,77 Therefore, the cases of DFL and APS can also be considered as test models in confirming the efficacy and robustness of the AP-DPD approach when applied to lyotropic systems. Using the defined theoretical apparatus, the main purpose of the work, the experimental investigation of the conformational equilibrium of DFL and its comparison with that of APS, can be now addressed. Practically speaking, the determination of the conformational distribution of the molecules under investigation is obtained from the collected experimental dipolar couplings, fixing the geometry as from molecular modeling calculations, via the AP-DPD theoretical approach, through a dedicated homemade software called AnCon.78 The calculations are carried out by fitting a set of calculated dipolar couplings (obtained by a trial set of orientational, geometrical, and potential parameters) against the experimental ones, while iterating on a pertinent number of unknowns until their optimized values. Such unknowns are (i) orientational parameters, represented by the set of the chosen εj2,p solute− solvent interaction tensor elements, and (ii) potential parameters, represented by the terms needed to model the conformational probability in terms of Gaussian functions max (namely, the φmax 1 , φ2 , h1 = h2, and A1 = 1 − A2 terms of eq 3 max and the φ and h terms of eq 4). At the end of the convergent process, back-calculated dipolar couplings, Dcalc ij , are carefully compared to the experimental ones. Assuming the assignment and the geometry are adequate, all differences between calculated and experimental data as well as the RMS (rootcalc 2 1/2 mean-square) error (RMS = {M−1∑i
